Customer Reviews

Sharp Teeth: A Novel (P.S.)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This debut novel at first seems strange,
bizarre,
difficult to take the first bite.

But then, the story gets going,
and you forget that it's written in free verse
- except that it doesn't rhyme,
and you know how I am about rhymes.

But still,

What's not to like about a story
About werewolves?
or was it weredogs?
Prowling the streets of LA,
changing at will,
killing and devouring without leaving a trace
- sometimes not even bloody tissue,
licking the ground Ajax clean.
Yet being civilized enough to know
that the most important dog in the pack
is the b!tch

Three packs,
one led by a lawyer at first,
who gets outmaneuvered
in an ironic kind of way
and forced to hide in the guise of woman's best friend
until he can regroup and reclaim,
and remark his territory.
But Lark has a plan
to infiltrate and conquer

It's also about Anthony the dogcatcher.
Who doesn't really want to be like the rest
- of dogcatchers, that is
"Perhaps over time he will become like them
with their permanent stains and bitter dispositions.
But Christ almighty, he thinks,
I hope not"
Anthony feeds the dogs tacos
that he can't afford
and one day he falls in love

Then there's the cop
Peabody
Investigating missing people
and dogs
and bloody trails of big red prints

These dogs don't play poker
preferring the game of bridge
especially Cutter and Blue, who have a knack for the game.
They follow Lark and the Ukan way,
but things get complicated when their fellow bridge players
turn out to be quite different than they seem
and there's also the new pack...
"The new pack follows a different form,
nobody has a name for it,
but it's a rough way of life."

Unusual
Yet compelling
This book reads like a graphic novel
in staccato bursts of
blood, gore, gristle
...and doggie dreams.
Dark, brutal
and memorable
especially on debut.



Amanda Richards, April 8, 2008

One may at first be put off by the notion of a werewolf novel as an epic poem. In the minds of many - too many - poetry is an aged, calcified form, difficult to penetrate, and approached not for fun but out of a sense of intellectual obligation. Yet any such concerns should be immediately thrust aside by any potential reader of Toby Barlow's clever, compelling debut novel, "Sharp Teeth."

Barlow's plot, at its surface, is a straight forward modern werewolf tale - a pack living in LA under the command of Lark have big plans, having to do with dog pounds. From there the story branches our into many directions - a love story between a werewolf woman and the novel's protagonist, several survivors of a decimated pack dealing with their loneliness, and other wolves hungry for the vengeance of blood. The poetry in which all of this comes is delivered in language at once subtle and raw, visceral as Barlow's topic and modern his book's setting. For example, when writing about a lovers wonder about how well he knows his love.

He worries that this
Is beginning to feel like
driving a car through the mountains,
finding a great song on the radio
and then as you pass out of its range
hearing it flicker and fade.
Snap, pop and
then its gone.

Or another musing

Tomorrow she knows
the tactics will have to change
her luck has held three times
and Lark has always said,
luck is stupid as a cow
and blind as a bat.

What would you do
to protect the love you have?
Would you kill?
Would you hunt to kill?
Would you kill without mercy?
And if you wouldn't
Then how precious is your love?

Yet for all of this pretty poetry, Barlow never forgets the tradition from which he springs, that Homer and Shakespeare never meant for their audiences to be left to a narrow band of dutiful intellectuals, but saw themselves as appealing to a mass audience. And so, like these predecessors works, "Sharp Teeth" offers no shortage of breathtaking violence, and lurid bawdy details, and fine humor (a group of dogs hustling cards being my personal favorite). Barlow milks moon and dog imagery for every drop of entertainment, all delivered to the reader in a spectacular package.

Readers will recognize much of "Sharp Teeth" as familiar, a crime noir taken to the next level, with all of the twists, turns, and character archetypes one might expect. The crime boss down on his luck plotting his way back, his scheming second in command, the beautiful dame who isn't sure what love is, the haggard cop who thinks once too often about eating his gun. Yet again, Barlow's rich vivid language and his mastery of imagery bring all of these things to us in a way that is both fresh and rewarding.

Readers who allow themselves to be put off by thoughts of epic poetry will be the loosers, never having enjoyed the bite of "Sharp Teeth."

Based on some British online reviews, I had already put Mr. Barlow's book on my wish list when, by stroke of luck, I landed an uncorrected proof from a local bookseller. With, then, the disclaimer that I am an avid poetry reader, I can still honestly say that anyone - poet hound or otherwise - looking for an engaging story, intriguing characters, hackle-raising horror or, as is my addiction, beautiful word-craft will love this book. It will be most appealing to those who love and respect dogs. Mr. Barlow rarely slings cliche, but when he does he plays with it enough that it doesn't rankle, but instead invites one to smile. The story never lagged, and with enough was left to the imagination that the book was impossible to put down (woe to me and my homework). Already I am, once bitten and not at all shy, eagerly awaiting his next effort.

I work in a library and while processing this book for check out I would open it randomly and become absolutely engrossed. The free verse is simultaneously as flowing as straight prose, and as moving as poetry, some lines make you pause, breathe, back up and re-read just to savor their resonance in your mind.

The werewolf/dog angle as well as the violent clashes between the gangs make this story not for everyone, but the underlying compassion and beauty of the verse are what you take away from the book. As mentioned in a previous review, I will probably have to read it again, as slowly as possible, just to savor the little details I probably missed the first time through.

As near a perfect thing as any book I can think of.

"Rage --- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,/ murderous, doomed, that cost the Acheans countless losses,/ hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls...." So begins THE ILIAD. Its influence has made itself known once again. Consider the first and penultimate stanzas of SHARP TEETH: "Let's sing about the man there/ at the breakfast table/ brown skin, thin features, white T," and "Let us pause now/ and close this sanguine song." The references to song as well as the devotion of the first stanza to description are unmistakably Homeric. We don't get much epic poetry these days, let alone imbued with modernist flair. And we get less in the sci-fi genre. Even just for this alone, SHARP TEETH is worth a look for those stylists and speculative fiction fans who like their writing a little more quirky and intelligent.

There are werewolves all around us. They can change at will. Unlike the myths (but in conformity with common sense), they live --- and kill --- in packs. Or, in LA, gangs. They have accounts to manage their finances. In many respects they live just like us --- except they can break out of the cages that bind the rest of us to our normal lives and experience a bloody freedom we can barely imagine. It's a shame that The Hulk wasn't a werewolf; if so, perhaps our culture would have a greater appreciation for this mythic and heroic --- almost Achilles-esque --- figure.

Toby Barlow has seen fit to revive the werewolf, and not just for sci-fi geeks. This is the literate werewolf novel. When he describes "the elemental comfort" of pack life, we can't help but think of the isolated human souls that inhabit this book. We may have something to learn from the wolves who have managed to combine intense social unity with unparalleled individual freedom, an achievement we're still at a loss for.

However, the inventiveness of this novel is undercut by its sub-par execution. If this is an epic "song" as Barlow would have us believe, even a pared-down modernist one, its poetics are sorely lacking. The vast bulk of line breaks seem arbitrarily inserted, reminding us of what should be obvious: that poetry isn't just prose with enjambment. Not only does this make virtually all the dialogue awkward to read, it also detracts from the text. To read this as poetry, the reader must adopt an awkward rhythm, as there is often a substantial discontinuity between the pace of the plot and of the poetry. At other times, words are dropped to make the text read more like a fast-paced, grittily urban poem.

None of this stylization is in any way inventive, giving the book a tired, even cliché feel at times. The overall impression is that little thought was put into the poetics of the novel: the lines feel unpolished, which begs the question of why this was written as poetry to begin with. Neither the premise nor the drama require it, and while it does speed the pace of the novel, it does so to its detriment.

However, if one is willing to look past these structural problems, one may find more than expected. The themes are managed with enough seriousness, but not so much as to feel heavy-handed. And this really is a new take on both the werewolf and urban fantasy genres. In a world where innovation is often shunted before ever being given its due, rare examples such as this should be congratulated for their daring.

--- Reviewed by Max Falkowitz

An ambitous, fun read. Bridge playing werewolves and creepy Peter Lorre like meth barons populate an alternative LA that astutely mirrors and comments upon our "real" world visions, fears and fantasies of that city. Barlow maps the yearning of all creatures for connection, attachment and violence against the consequences of all those compulsions. Tossing off the story in free verse, Barlow's language isn't stuffy or poetically overdetermind but has a searching intelligence and rythmic integrity. He also has a keen ear for droll underplayed dialogue. Don't worry about Homer, think about the power of Stephen Crane's short verses being played out over a noir novel's length and mashed up with early Springsteen and enjoy the ride.

With Sharp Teeth, Toby Barlow has written one of the most stunning, compelling and at once violent and compassionate books that I can ever recall reading.

Filled with passion, wrenched apart by unrequited love, written in plain verse that reads as effortlessly as breathing (or as a graphic novel without the graphics), it is almost surprising that the tale of Sharp Teeth is so contemporary and so real - especially when you consider the fact that it concerns rival gangs in Los Angeles (but think Robert De Niro's intelligently structured gang in the movie, Heat, not some bunch of fools) who just happen to be able to transform themselves into wolves and wild dogs who run in the canyons and arroyos of Southern California's nighttime wilderness. To call this a werewolf story is to reduce it to a pointless and totally insufficient label.

Lark, its central character, is a man of finely tailored clothes and still more finely tailored thoughts and emotions. The Girl (for she is never named, nor should she be) that he loves is damaged and wild and finds feeling and brief solace in the arms of one Mexican-American dog catcher named Anthony, whose own soul is as complex and driven by passion as both the woman he loves and the man (Lark) who so completely and unconditionally loves her.

There is savagery here, in the transformations from human to animal, and surprises, whether it be the iconic Surfer Pack, with its seductive Annie (filled with the warm innocence of a summer night, yet every bit as primal as those with whom she runs), or the Bridge Tournament in Pasadena, attended by the perfectly-named (like every single character in the book) gang members Cutter and Blue, which strikes echoes of Chandler and Hammett at their sly, dry, sardonic best.

Or, for the sheer joy of the prose, take this, from when The Girl first meets Lark ("She's leaned on Lark for so long now/you'd think it was love"):

"The talk went on until the moon disappeared
and she bit her lip and looked down and knew that
whatever it was, she would agree.
But he kept talking,
until she finally wanted it so bad,
she could feel the night's darkness
vibrating inside her."

The intelligence and intent of the book can be sensed in the epigraphs that open each section of the narrative. For example, at the start of Book One, Walter Benjamin's "There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism," transposed with Warren Zevon's (RIP) "His hair was perfect."

But perhaps the love and loss, the power plays and empathy and sheer manic energy of this explosive, wholly original modern day myth, are best captured by the quiet simplicity of this quotation from Plato, which appends Book Four:

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Toby Barlow has done what all writers, not least all new writers, dream of doing: he has redefined a literary form and made it his own. And created magic in doing so.

Author Toby Barlow has a lot of nerve--writing a free-verse, werewolf (weredog?) novel set in a repulsively accurate current day Los Angeles. I didn't think I could read another werewolf or vampire book, but this one looked so original that I couldn't resist.

Not only does it have a striking and unusual cover, and include wonderful illustrations, the entire novel is in the form of an epic poem. This form keeps things moving along at a very rapid pace, and eliminates a lot of unnecessary blather. For example, I rarely care what a character is wearing in a werewolf tale--but I DO wonder where the clothes go!

Surprisingly moving, with a great deal of humor and violence, I recommend this unique novel for anyone who loves noir. The author manages to covey a lot about the characters concisely. His descriptions of Los Angeles are also very concise--and so dead on they make me never want to go there again! But that is part of the gloomy charm of this novel: The werewolf packs aren't stunningly wealthy, supernaturally gorgeous creatures who live in castles. They are bridge-players, con-men and lawyers, etc. who deal drugs to make money, live in abandoned warehouses or tacky tract homes, and plant uncover spies at the dog pound. There lives are anything but glamorous.

Great book and highly recommended.

Unknown to the rest of us, L.A. is populated by packs of werewolves, humans that change into dog-like beasts at will. In Sharp Teeth, three packs fight for power and vengeance, a dog catcher falls in love with a female werewolf, and a detective investigates a string of dog-related murders. The plot is tight and closely interweaving, the content is brutally violent, and the text is written in blank verse; somehow this unusual novel works, moving at a swift pace through a large cast and complex plot while still creating a poetic atmosphere which is unexpectedly moving. This novel's content and form caught me by pleasant surprise--it's a wonderful book unlike any other, and I highly recommend it.

When I first heard of this book through a friend's review, I was thrown by the combination of werewolves and verse, but sufficiency impressed by her love for the book to put it on reserve. I hope that readers come away from my review with the same impression, because I was surprised and pleased by this book and I urge others to read it. Yes, the combination of werewolves and verse is unusual, but at Barlow's hand it is successful. After the first page, I was no longer consciously aware of reading verse, but the effect of the style is aways there: the line breaks create a style that is quick and tight, capturing the reader as it moves swiftly through the plot. At the same time, the style is poetic, engaging a number of beastial metaphors to describe the violence of this interaction, the wild nature of this character, the primal love of this relationship.

The book's werewolves are very literal, real creatures, but they are also an analogy for the dog-on-dog nature and violence of the world that they inhabit. As such, the book places an expansive plot of dog packs, gang wars, and meth labs against the experiences and emotions of the characters, and entertains the unforgiving violence of a werewolf alongside a wide emotional register that moves from dry wit to surprising poignancy. To say that this book is ultimately "human" is to miss the point: it is neither wolf nor human, but (like the style) a hybrid of both, combining simple animal drives with human complexity, exaggerating human nature until it has become, although similar, something entirely new.

Barlow is unforgiving in both content and style, and while werewolves and verse may not seem to go together, here they do, and the result is remarkable. The text is engrossing and swiftly readable, the language brings both style and story to life, the plot is quite complex but never impossible to follow, the werewolves are strongly imagined, and through violence and love the book is potent and visceral. Books like this are rare, and not just because of the odd combination of the premise. Sharp Teeth is clever, engrossing, and truly satisfying both in plot and in meaning. I'm lucky to have heard about it, glad I had the chance to read it, and I highly recommend it.

I do not read poetry.

I do not like dogs.

I love Sharp Teeth.

This book is among the most incredible stories I have ever read in my entire life- so mind-blowingly incredible that I was able to throw away all of my prejudice about poetry, about dogs, about love stories. It gives you chills at every turn of the page -seriously, gooesbumps. It keeps you guessing at what may happen next, how it's all going to collide. The author is brilliant, leading the reader down a winding and dark path through a dangerous world that we could have hardly imagined on our own, and he never looses you. He never lets go of your hand, but you completely forget that there's anyone there leading you to begin with, and thus is the art of lyrical manipulation. Brilliant, brilliant work.

I read the whole thing in one sitting, but I'm extremely glad that I own the book so that I may return to it again later to pick up on the clues, muse more about the characters the situations, and the extremely intricate and primal themes that the entire story is based around. It is a MUST read, MUST own, MUST share book. Absolutely.